


Chemicals React

by chloebeale



Category: Pitch Perfect (2012)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-11
Updated: 2013-01-11
Packaged: 2017-11-25 03:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/634734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloebeale/pseuds/chloebeale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beca absolutely was NOT a hugger. So why did she find herself not pulling away from Chloe’s extraordinarily long hugs? Why didn’t she roll her eyes when Chloe added “aca” to the beginning of her words, like she did when Aubrey did the same? Because like it or not, Beca had it bad for this girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chemicals React

It was unthinkable that Beca could have a crush on someone who said things like “totes” and “we’re the tits” without being ironic about it.   
  
Chloe was the complete opposite of everything she’d ever been. She was bubbly, while Beca was sarcastic. She was an optimist, whereas Beca was a realist. She listened to songs by Mariah Carey, whose voice Beca thought was on par with dolphin noises, and actually enjoyed it.   
  
She barged into showers and had no regard for personal boundaries and Beca absolutely was NOT a hugger.   
  
So why did she find herself not pulling away from Chloe’s extraordinarily long hugs? Why didn’t she roll her eyes when Chloe added “aca” to the beginning of her words, like she did when Aubrey did the same?   
  
Because like it or not, Beca had it  _bad_  for this girl.   
  
It wasn’t the fact that Chloe was a girl that bothered her, as her sexuality had been something she’d discovered all the way back in middle school. It was how vulnerable she felt around her, how the proverbial walls she’d become so used to putting up were nonexistent when Chloe was around.   
  
It was how everything Chloe did made her smile, even though Beca prided herself on her infrequent smiles. She’d even refused to smile for all her school yearbook photos.   
  
But when Chloe was around her, Beca smiled all the time. Sometimes she felt her cheeks grow sore because she’d been smiling for so long, muscles tired from so many years of disuse.   
  
But what scared her most of all was not knowing how Chloe felt about her.   
  
Sure, she was sweet to her, and maybe she touched her a lot or let her eyes linger for too long in questionable places, but that was just Chloe. She pretty much did that with everyone.   
  
Beca liked her so much that she was reluctant to express her feelings for fear that they might not be returned. She couldn’t live with herself if she lost Chloe because of this stupid crush…not that Chloe would ever do that to her. Not that she could ever lose her even if she wanted to (she really, really didn’t want to).   
  
Unfortunately her most recent mixes were bearing the brunt of her feelings. She kept producing excruciating mashups of the most heartbreaking songs she could think of. Beca had pretty much incorporated an Adele song into every mix she’d composed the last several months.   
  
 _Someone like You_  had gained a startling number of listens over the past couple of weeks alone. She’d curled up under her blankets one Saturday afternoon and listened to that particular song on repeat for over an hour as she let loose and cried as hard as she could.   
  
That had been really awkward to explain to Kimmy Jin when she walked in on her. She blamed that entire incident on PMS, which was a valid excuse had it been true.   
  
Beca wasn’t the type of person to hopelessly yearn for someone to like her back. Usually she’d give up and move on if the other person wasn’t interested.   
  
The thing was, she wasn’t sure if Chloe was interested or not. The smart thing to do would be to just ask. But her fear was holding her back from doing so.   
  
The last time Beca had seen Chloe with someone had been the shower guy. She met him the day she had barged into Beca’s shower, and saw him again the night of aca-initiation. Her friend had been dancing with him and making out with him all night.   
  
So on one hand, she knew that Chloe liked boys…but that didn’t mean she didn’t like girls, too.   
  
All she had to do was figure that out—whether Chloe was into the ladies—and then she’d feel confident enough to admit to her feelings. Well, hopefully.   
  
Beca sat at her laptop and opened up Safari, clicking on Facebook under her bookmarks. She checked her notifications, one of which was a wall post from her mom that made her grin, and then navigated Chloe’s page to look for clues.   
  
She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, really. The most obvious clue would be the interested in section, but it seemed that Chloe had hidden it completely. What did that mean?   
  
Next she searched through Chloe’s likes, which was a long and laborious process given the redhead’s tendency to like literally everything ever. She found nothing that stood out to her.   
  
It wasn’t like the L Word was on her list of favorite shows or Tegan & Sara were on her music list. But she did like Glee, which meant she was open-minded at the very least, and she listened to Lady GaGa…then again, what college girl didn’t?   
  
She kept second guessing everything that seemed like it was in the gay column. Beca even saw that Chloe had liked a few pages about marriage equality, but there was nothing staring her outright in the face that said she was a lesbian.   
  
Maybe there was something in her pictures she’d missed.  _Like what,_  she asked herself,  _a rainbow flag or a photo of Chloe making out with some chick?_    
  
No dice.   
  
Chloe had a remarkable amount of photos on her page. Not all of them were of her, either, in fact she had an entire album dedicated to pictures of cats. Cats, though, gay girls liked cats.   
  
This would be a lot easier if Beca had any semblance of gaydar. But she hadn’t been gifted with that trait, much to her disadvantage.   
  
At a complete loss she decided her next course of action would be to consult the only other lesbian she knew. Cynthia Rose. She scrolled down to her name on her iPhone and pushed the call button, holding the phone to her ear as she waited for her to answer the call.   
  
“What’s up, Beca?” Cynthia Rose’s chilled out tone came out of the speaker.   
  
“Hey, Cynthia Rose, not much, I um was calling you for some advice actually?”   
  
The other woman laughed.   
  
“Alright, alright. Lay it on me.”   
  
“How can you tell if a girl is into girls?” Beca finally asked with exasperation in her voice.   
  
“You could ask her, you know. Saves a lot of trouble,” was Cynthia’s response.   
  
“Other than asking her.”   
  
“Oooh, who’ve you got your eye on? Wait, let me guess. The ginger?” she chuckled.   
  
Beca was silent for a moment. Was she that transparent?   
  
“Yeah. I like Chloe. Do you think she’s straight?” Beca questioned desperately.   
  
“If you want my professional opinion, I’m gonna have to say no. She does a lot of leering for a straight girl. She and I stared at Stacie’s ass together once,” Cynthia Rose recalled, “I’d have to say without a shadow of a doubt, that girl’s bisexual.”   
  
“Oh, okay. Well thanks.” The brunette offered lamely, not knowing what else to say.   
  
“Anytime. And hey, if you ask her out and she says no, I’m available to pick up the pieces if you know what I mean.”   
  
“I think I know what you mean,” Beca smirked, “See you at rehearsal.”   
  
She hung up the phone and put the device down on her desk, letting out a sigh. Cynthia Rose seemed pretty certain that Chloe was into girls. She wondered briefly why Cynthia hadn’t tried hooking up with her if that was the case.   
  
Then Beca heard a chiming noise from her laptop and she glanced at the screen, a blinking message popped up in the corner. She looked at the message and realized it was from Chloe. Without fail a smile came to her face at the message.   
  
 _«Hey Beca! :)  
  
»Hi, Chloe.   
  
«Are u busy?   
  
»No. Not at all, why?   
  
«In the mood for company?   
  
»I’m always in the mood for your company.   
  
«Oooh, good answer ;) So it’s okay if I come over?   
  
»Yes.   
  
«C u soon xox  
  
«Chloe Beale is now offline.   
  
_She felt her nerves build up when she realized what this meant. Beca had intended to call Chloe or text her about her feelings, it would be easier that way, but Chloe was coming over instead.   
  
She didn’t know whether it was a good idea to tell her in person or not.   
  
Beca knew that it was better to tell someone serious things in person. But it would make things more awkward and if she had the need to flee, she couldn’t really run away from her own room. Well, she could, but she’d look like a nutcase if she did.   
  
Realizing she was in a pair of sweatpants and an unflattering old band shirt, Beca jumped up from her computer chair and pulled off the clothes currently occupying her body.   
  
She chose and donned a more acceptable outfit that she wouldn’t mind Chloe seeing her in. Then she applied some eyeliner, because let’s face it, she looked a little dead in the eyes without it.   
  
She was running a brush through her hair when she heard the jaunty knock at the door. With a grin Beca made her way across the room and opened the door to reveal a happy looking Chloe.   
  
“What song was that you were knocking? It sounded familiar,” Beca asked as she moved aside to allow her friend to come inside.   
  
Chloe pulled her into a hug before she answered, holding her tightly and for a long time. Her hugs were always so warm and lingering. Beca loved that about her. They pulled apart and Chloe’s bright blue eyes met Beca’s.   
  
“I was knocking to the beat of that song you did for your audition,” she said simply, dropping down onto Beca’s bed, “I haven’t really stopped listening to it after I found it on iTunes that day.”   
  
“You like that song, huh?” the brunette offered, hovering near the bed but not sitting down.   
  
“It’s better when you sing it, but yeah,” Chloe nodded, then pat the empty space next to her to indicate that she wanted Beca to sit there.   
  
Hesitantly Beca did so, meekly looking at the girl beside of her and fiddling with her sleeve. This being nervous thing was lame.   
  
“Are you okay?” her friend asked.   
  
“Yeah, I’m fine.”   
  
It was silent. It was never this quiet between them. Usually Chloe was talking a mile a minute and Beca was listening and nodding and smiling, engrossed in whatever she was talking about, even if it was something she wasn’t even interested in.   
  
But now neither of them was talking.   
  
“Are you sure you’re okay? Because you’re being kind of weird,” Chloe tried again with a smile, “I mean, weirder than usual,” she teased.   
  
Beca nodded, “I’m good. I’ve just got a lot on my mind is all.”   
  
Chloe understood that, she was in her head quite a bit these days. With finals looming closer and the end of her senior year, she had entirely too much to think about.   
  
“I get it. I’m worried about the ICCAs and finals and graduation and grad school…”  
  
“Grad school?” Beca knew nothing about grad school and she couldn’t even recall what Chloe’s major was, if she’d ever known.   
  
“Yeah, Bree and I are getting an apartment together here, and hopefully going to Georgia State,” she explained and upon seeing the other girl’s incredulous look, she laughed, “what? You thought you were gonna get rid of us that easily?”   
  
Chloe punched Beca playfully in the arm.   
  
“No, I’m relieved, actually. I don’t know the first thing about running the Bellas, and if I have you to help me…and Aubrey. That’s a relief. Plus, I don’t know, you’re like my best friend or whatever and here I was thinking I wasn’t going to see you after this year.”   
  
“I’m here to stay, Becs. You can come stay at our apartment if you want! I’m sure Kimmy Jin would love that,” Chloe offered.   
  
“That would be awesome. But I doubt she’ll be my roommate next year. Hey, by the way, what’s your major? I just realized I had literally no idea,” Beca wondered.   
  
“Nursing.”   
  
She hadn’t thought about it before, but Beca could definitely see Chloe nursing sick people back to health. She had that sunny personality that people would appreciate. She was probably really good at taking care of people; after all, she’d taken pretty good care of Beca when she had that horrible flu a couple months back.   
  
“Wow. And Aubrey’s going to be a lawyer, right? I pity whoever has to deal with her in the courtroom…oh! Do you think she’ll blow chunks at her first trial? I’d love to buy a ticket for that,” Beca smirked and Chloe rolled her eyes.   
  
“Yeah, she is going to be a great lawyer. And no, she’s got the stress vomiting thing under control. She’s started meditating, and I think it’s helped a lot.”   
  
“She should consider medicating.”   
  
“ _Beca._ ”   
  
“I’m sorry! I’m just saying.”   
  
“It was kind of funny,” Chloe shrugged, a tinge of a smile on her face, “but don’t ever tell her I said that.”   
  
“I cross my heart. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Beca changed the subject, her heart beating a little faster as she steered them toward what she’d been wanting to say for months now.   
  
“Ooh. You’ve got serious face. What is it?” The older woman queried, raising her eyebrows curiously.   
  
“I, uh, well…” she stammered.   
  
Chloe looked concerned, her mind immediately going to a bad place. Oh no, what if Beca had nodes, too? Or some weird disease? Or herpes?   
  
“You can tell me,” the senior said gently.   
  
“Ilikeyou.”   
  
“What?” Chloe didn’t understand the garbled mess that had just spilled from Beca’s mouth.   
  
“I like you,” she repeated, her voice clear this time.   
  
Chloe smiled, “I like you, too.”   
  
“No, like— _like_  you,” Beca clarified, feeling like a middle schooler all over again.   
  
“Oh!” A flicker of recognition passed over the redhead’s face, “I’m really glad to hear that, Beca, cause I like-like you too,” her hand fell to Beca’s knee, which she promptly squeezed, “so, what are we gonna do about it?”   
  
“Wait. Really?” Chloe had never seen Beca light up like this, and she nodded, “Wow. Okay. Awesome. I was expecting the worst. That’s…good. And I don’t know. I haven’t liked someone since I was in the ninth grade. Do you want me to take you on a date or something?”   
  
“How about you start by kissing me?” Chloe offered, leaning in close like she had the night of the aca-initiation party, “I think you’re gonna be a really good kisser.”   
  
Beca took a breath and propelled herself forward a couple inches. As she closed the distance between them, her lips found Chloe’s.   
  
Chloe’s lips were unbelievably soft, and she could feel the girl’s arms moving around her neck as she kissed her more deeply. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and freezing at the same time, sparklers going off in her head.   
  
Beca was a little surprised when she noticed Chloe’s tongue sliding into her mouth, but she didn’t mind. She closed her eyes and held her by the waist, not wanting the kiss to end.   
  
It had to end eventually, but from the look on Chloe’s face, Beca knew there’d be much more where that came from. Both of them smiled at each other like idiots, overwhelmed by all the sensations they’d just felt from their new contact.   
  
“That was a good start,” Chloe murmured, touching the ends of Beca’s hair with her fingertips, “and I was right, you  _are_  a good kisser.”   
  
Though she was a little uncertain of what lie ahead for them, Beca was happy. She’d been preparing herself for Chloe’s rejection and was instead given acceptance and an unforgettable first kiss.   
  
She wasn’t good at this whole dating thing, but then again, she hadn’t been good at dancing either. Chloe had taught her how to dance and with any luck; she’d teach her how to date, too.   
  
Beca knew without a doubt that she was going to make a bomb ass mix tonight.


End file.
